


his boy friday

by sciences



Category: EXO (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Notting Hill Fusion, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Hwang Minhyun/Kim Jaehwan, Minor Park Jihoon/Park Woojin, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-03 13:16:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14569818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sciences/pseuds/sciences
Summary: In between chance encounters and planned ones, Seongwu realizes that falling in love doesn’t only happen in movies.(or alternatively, the notting hill au that nobody really asked for)





	1. it happened one night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ongnigiri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ongnigiri/gifts).



> For the [birthday girl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ongnigiri/pseuds/ongnigiri).  
> For the [peter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curryramyeon/pseuds/tinygumdrops) and [steve](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sengen35/pseuds/sengen35) to my tony.  
> And for ong nation, as always.
> 
>  
> 
> This is a love letter to ongniel and cinema.  
>   
> Opening credits, _begin._

 

 

_“So let's find a bar_

_So dark we forget who we are_

_But all the scars from the nevers and maybes die”_

 

\- Rent (2005)

 

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Seongwu doesn’t remember how they got there. He remembers agreeing to tag along Jisung and Hyunbin to this new joint in Hongdae. He doesn’t remember agreeing to crash a Halloween party at a semi-exclusive club in Itaewon. He doesn’t even want to know how they got in.

 

He admits that he does like to party every now and then. But hangovers don’t exactly help pay the bills, so he gradually shifted to a lifestyle of less partying. But this week has really been extra draining to him, mentally and physically.  His dad chose the wrong week to move some of their old things—photo albums, old tapes, tattered sepia photos enclosed in broken picture frames—to the storage room of their vintage video rental shop in Dongdaemun.

 

Seongwu doesn’t even question whether they’re still making money from the rental shop. He doubts that anybody would even come to their shop looking for copies of old films, anyways. But he never comments on it, opting to respect the rental shop’s faded burgundy walls, and the bittersweet sentiment they bring.

 

 _Sometimes, people would want to find things. I want to be one of those people they can come to to find those things,_ his old man would say.

 

Seongwu wonders briefly what his dad would say when he finds out how his son is spending his Friday night. Seongwu badly needs to let out some steam so there’s really no better way than to drink his worries away, even just for a night.

 

Everyone in the club, including Jisung and Hyunbin, is wearing masks to conceal their identities.

 

Everyone except Seongwu.

 

He went for the police officer look because he saw a police hat on his cabinet, which he must have brought home by mistake on one of the many Halloween parties he went to, back when he was in college.  Nobody seemed to care that he didn’t wear a mask. It might have been due to the fact that everyone was already shitfaced or that they simply didn’t care.

 

Regardless, Seongwu likes the thrill.

 

He likes the thrill in having to dance with strangers who he may or may not ever have the chance of seeing again. He kind of regrets not having a mask to conceal his identity, but right now, in the middle of the swaying bodies and blaring EDM blasting from the club’s speakers, he’s satisfied.

 

He doesn’t remember how many drinks he’s had for him to end up in the middle of the crowd, half-popping, half-grinding his way to euphoria. He trusts that Jisung and Hyunbin are not as drunk as him. He trusts Jisung, at least.

 

The music switches to something with a deeper bass, something infectious, something sensual.

 

He’s starting to drown deeper, getting lost in the sensation of being surrounded with strangers who are as drunk as him.

 

That’s when his drunk self stumbles on his feet and almost collides with a person, a stranger who immediately holds him by his wrists, avoiding any possible fall. Seongwu wants to laugh at himself for almost falling flat on his gorgeous face, but he resists, reveling in the firmness of the grip on the stranger’s wrists.

 

When Seongwu looks up, it feels like he’s seeing double at first, until it dawns on him that the person, the guy that caught him is actually talking to him. He sees the guy’s lips move, but Seongwu can’t really hear him, entranced by those lips moving in slow motion.

The guy notices this and inches forward, his grip on Seongwu’s wrists becoming slightly firmer. “I said, you should be more careful next time, officer.”

 

Seongwu blinks slower and tries to focus on the guy’s face, which seems to be smiling at him. The man, too, was wearing a mask like everyone else. Seongwu wants to comment on how the masked stranger hasn’t taken his hands off him yet, but instead he slurs, “I’m off-duty.”

 

Masked stranger laughs at that. The mask only covers the guy’s eyes, and yet Seongwu feels like he could almost picture the stranger’s eyes crinkling to match the smooth, easy laughter. That’s when he notices that the masked stranger is about a head taller than him. Seongwu frowns; he’s already taller than the average guy, and he doesn’t really like the thought that there are other people who can make him feel smaller.

 

“You’re not so bad yourself, you know,” comments the stranger.

 

Seongwu wants to protest because apparently, said stranger can read his mind.

 

“No, I can’t. You’re just thinking things out loud right now.” Seongwu is too mesmerized by the giddy tone in the stranger’s voice, too caught up in the almost non-existent space between them.

 

Suddenly, everything feels hotter.

 

The stranger’s soft grip on his wrists, bordering on soft caresses, burns on his skin. But again, Seongwu makes no move of breaking free and instead tries to move closer to the stranger, seeking his warmth. He wraps his hands around the stranger’s neck and finds those masked eyes grow darker, hungrier, needier. He turns to look at the stranger’s lips, and _fuck_ , was it a wrong idea.

 

“I’m really… really drunk right now,” Seongwu slurs, but he hopes the stranger is still hearing him out. He’s looking at the stranger’s lips as he tries to put his thoughts into coherent sentences. The stranger’s lips are so pretty, and Seongwu just wants to find out if they taste as good as they look.

 

“Permission to kiss a drunk officer?” whispers the stranger.

 

Seongwu nods absentmindedly, too fixated on the stranger’s breath tickling his neck.

 

He has no idea who closes the gap first, but soon, he’s met with a seemingly not-so-experienced pair of lips. But the effort makes up for the slight sloppiness. And besides, Seongwu has always been a generous kisser. So he kisses back with equal fervor and a bit more control. He grabs hold of the stranger’s soft blonde locks and moans wantonly onto the stranger’s mouth.

 

The kiss gets better, deeper, and hotter. Suddenly, he just wants to take all of this somewhere else.

 

Seongwu pulls back, and he feels the frown forming on the stranger’s lips still dangling a few inches from his. _How cute_ , he thinks.

 

“This is cute, but do you want to take this somewhere else?” Seongwu enunciates his words carefully, giving the stranger a chance to retreat.

 

“Uhm, can we go to your place?”

 

Something in Seongwu instantly softens at the stranger’s tone. He takes the stranger’s hand in his and tries to lead them out of the throng of bodies on the dance floor. As the cold midnight air hits his skin, he feels the stranger’s fingers intertwine with his. On instinct, he huddles closer and leans his head on the stranger’s shoulder.     

 

The stranger never lets go until they hail a cab. Everything passes by in a blur. Seongwu is a giggling mess, and he finds himself constantly playing with the fingers of the equally giggly stranger.

 

Once they arrive at his house, he struggles with his keys but eventually manages to make them work after a couple of tries. Seongwu can’t even remember how they manage to climb upstairs to his room, but once his back hits the wall of his bedroom and feels eager lips on his neck, he thinks that his Friday night wasn’t so bad after all.

 

He misses the part where the stranger takes off his mask. In the morning, Seongwu will only remember how his breath’s just taken away but right now, he reaches out to touch the stranger’s face, tracing his eyes, his cheeks, his lips. The stranger responds by kissing his hand, trailing kisses along his arm, leading up to a kiss to his neck. The stranger’s kisses are soft and deliberate, and Seongwu is left reeling, reveling in everything that the stranger is giving him.   

 

And as he lies on his bed, stripped of all his clothes with the stranger taking off his own set of clothes, Seongwu stops thinking. He can turn his mind on again tomorrow. For tonight, as he feels hands and lips all over him, he succumbs to bliss.

  
  
  


 

 

Seongwu’s head throbs.

 

He has the vaguest of ideas why they’re having breakfast at 8 am, when he could still be sleeping away his hangover from the night prior. He can barely keep up with the energy of his older sister, who is going and on and on about a possible funding that their upcoming exhibit might be receiving.

 

Wow. If he managed to catch that, perhaps he isn’t too hung over after all.

 

“Earth to Seongwu! Can you function like a normal adult for a moment and actually answer me?”

Jinah slides the cinnamon tea in Seongwu’s direction, the scent of it filling his nose just enough to give way to a calming sensation. Exactly what he needs after a very wild Friday night.

 

“Now are you here with us?” Jinah jokingly points her teaspoon to his direction. “Dad and I were just talking about rules on, well, the people you take home with you. More so, the people you take with you to your bed!”

 

Seongwu’s dad lets out a laugh while sipping his own cup of coffee.

 

His older sister has always been this straightforward. Seongwu guesses it must really run in the family.

 

Two can play the straightforward game.

 

“This isn’t the first time I brought people home without warning, though?” Seongwu challenges.

 

His sister scoffs.

 

Their dad keeps on reading the paper as if his two children aren’t casually talking about his son’s bedroom activities.

 

“I’m saying a heads up would have been nice?” Jinah says. “Like, ‘Hello sister dearest, I’m at a party right now and I might be taking a guy back with me and may sleep with him?’”

 

Seongwu laughs. His sister can be unbelievable sometimes.

 

Jinah continues,“You should have seen him! Poor guy was so ashamed to have his face seen and just kept bowing, mumbling apologies to me when he almost bumped into me earlier.”

 

“Maybe you scared him. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

 

There’s a look of disbelief on his sister’s face. Their dad keeps letting out giggles from behind the paper he’s reading.

 

“Besides, what do you expect him to do?” Seongwu adds. “Stay over for breakfast?”

 

“Well, you could have at least offered. That would have been the gentleman thing to do.”

 

“I didn’t even bat an eyelash when he got up from my bed. What happens on Friday night stays on Friday night, people included.”

 

“Even if they’re, say, a centimeter taller than you and has broader shoulders than you?”

 

Seongwu almost chokes on his tea. “That’s not fair.”

 

“What’s not fair is you not talking about how nice he was in bed,” Jinah says.

 

Their dad coughs, gets up with his cup and places it on the sink.

 

“Spill.” Jinah inches closer from her side of the table, waggling her eyebrows.

 

“Let’s just say I won’t be walking straight for the next few days,” Seongwu says.

 

His sister gives him an approving smile.

 

Seongwu smiles to himself, mind wandering to thoughts of soft caresses and shy, smiling eyes.

  
  


 

 

 

Seongwu hates Mondays.

 

He dreads showing up at the office, knowing full well that a pile of work is waiting for him. He’s back to churning out trailer after trailer in between attending occasional meetings with the demanding and snotty producers. He misses the weekend already.

 

“Hey did you hear?” Gunhee from Marketing asks.

 

“Hear what? The day just started.”

 

Gunhee sips from his coffee and huddles a seat closer to Seongwu. It’s not even his seat. It’s Dalja’s.

 

Dalja has been working in the agency for as long as Seongwu remembers. She has always been extremely chatty with him and with everyone in general. Seongwu just learned to go with the flow, since some of her stories do seem pretty interesting. Her spiels somehow serve as helpful distraction from when he’s finishing deadline after deadline.

 

While Dalja works on trailers for romances and romantic comedies, Seongwu powers through massive slews of trailers for horror flicks and psychological thrillers. Everyone in the office thinks they’re an unlikely pair, and yet, Seongwu likes to think otherwise.

 

“Dalja has found true love,” Gunhee says.

 

“What?” Seongwu says. “Then we should congratulate her? Right?”

 

“Well it turns out true love wants to take her on a trip around the world.”

 

“Wait isn’t that an even better news? Where is she anyways? I should congratulate her.”

 

“She’s with Boss,” Gunhee reveals.

 

Seongwu waits for the catch.

 

“She’s resigning effective today,” Gunhee explains. “She’s saying something about living in the moment and following her heart.”

 

It takes a while for his brain to catch up to that, but then it all clicks.

 

“Are we hiring another person who will cover her workload?” Seongwu exclaims.

 

Gunhee gives him a shrug and gets up, walks away, presumably back to his side of the office, as if he didn’t just drop a bomb.

 

Seongwu really hates Mondays.

  
  


 

 

 

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Me, of all people here in the office?” Seongwu’s got a stapler in his hand and proceeds to threaten Dalja with it.

 

“Sorry Seongwu-ah,” Dalja says. “I still can’t believe I’m going through with this.”

 

“Yeah, it’s pretty bold of you to do so. You could have just requested for an extended leave or something. So you know, you’ll still have an actual work waiting for you when you get back from your tour around the world.”

 

Seongwu continues on and assumes Dalja’s still listening,“Where do you plan to get work when you come back?”

 

Dalja shakes her head. “I actually have no idea yet but Hyunwoo started helping me with my portfolio. He says I have enough material to try and work for a tv station or something.”

 

“Ah, so that’s the fella’s name.”

 

Throughout to he whole time Dalja is emptying her drawers, she keeps this vibrant smile on her face. Dalja has always been a cheerful presence in the office, but today she has been extra smiley.

 

True love must really be working wonders for her.

 

“Actually, yes,” Dalja says to him, face practically beaming.

 

“Crap,” Seongwu mutters. “I gotta stop speaking my mind out loud.”

 

Dalja laughs as she closes the last of her boxes. “I really didn’t mean to dump my pending deadlines on you. If it makes you feel any better, the producers for my deadlines are all really nice ones, all nice enough to treat me to a latte or two.”

 

“I don’t know if any amount of latte can help me survive the wild, wild world of romantic comedies.”

 

“Sure it will! And you’ll never know if someone will come waltzing in your life and sweep you of your feet,” she says as she gives Seongwu a pat on his shoulder. “Then you’ll end up breezing through all the deadlines, even the really sappy ones, because you’re just that in love,” she finishes, hand squeezing Seongwu’s shoulder before retreating.

 

“Is that what happened to you?” he asks her genuinely.

 

She nods once—and really, that says it all.

 

“Oh, before I almost forget, here’s the folder of my pending projects.” She places a long brown folder with different colored-flags on his desk. “I have the summaries printed out and even the notes from the producers on what they want to see on the final product.”

 

“Is there any chance there might be some sort of footage in here that ends in murder or something?”

 

Dalja laughs. “See you around, Seongwu-ssi!”

 

Dalja extends her hand out for a handshake, but Seongwu’s in a sappy mood. So he stands up from his chair and gives Dalja a weak hug.

 

“Ah, how good must it be to be young and in love,” Seongwu says.

 

“You’re halfway there, you know? You just need to work on the _in love_ part.”

 

It’s Seongwu’s turn to laugh. The anxiety of his additional deadlines are starting to creep in, and yet, as he bids his co-worker goodbye, he can’t help but feel happy for her.

 

He wonders if it will ever be the same case for him.

  
  


 

 

 

“So I guess we’ll be hearing from you, say, next week?”

 

“After you send me the footage of course.”

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

Seongwu seals it with a firm handshake. He’s still working on the pending deadlines Dalja left behind, but their Boss insists he meet the producer, since this is a big budget romcom that will span two more installments within the next three to five years. He’s surprised that even romance films are into the whole trilogy thing.

 

“As long as we stay right under CJ & EM’s nose, we’ll always have blockbuster offers from them” is what their Boss would say.

 

He wonders if he’ll get a bit of a raise, with his workload somehow doubling. He could call his Boss right now, inform him of the result of the meeting and casually ask about a possible raise, but then his Boss would know that the meeting already ended.

 

He spots the restroom in the far corner of the floor and decides he doesn’t want to go back to the office just yet.

 

He remembers asking security earlier at the first floor, and them answering that guests are discouraged from using restrooms apart from the ones meant for guests, a.k.a. those at the first and second floors. He’s currently at the sixth floor, and is in the mood to break some rules.

 

Upon entering the room, he hears a knock from one of the cubicles. He doesn’t dare speak and instead walks slowly towards the sinks.

 

“Hello, is anybody there?” a voice says.

 

Seongwu stays silent, hoping that turning on the faucet won’t make any sound.

 

“I can tell you’re hesitating to open the faucet in case I hear you.”

 

 _Damn_ , Seongwu thinks and coughs before responding, “Yes, I can hear you. Do you need help?”

 

“This is really embarrassing, but would you mind handing me some tissue from over there?”

 

Seongwu obliges and takes a hefty roll of tissue paper from beside the sink and gives it through the gap below the cubicle door and the floor. As soon as he hears the toilet flushing, he goes to the other cubicle to do his business.

 

No way is he going to get caught simply because he chose to use the urinal over the toilet. He doesn’t plan on getting caught breaking the simple restroom rule for guests.

 

“Hey, thank you. I owe you one,” the stranger says.

 

“No problem, dude.”

 

“I’m going now.”

 

Seongwu doesn’t understand why Restroom Guy needs to announce his leave. Once he hears the door closing, he steps out of the cubicle. To his surprise, the guy is still here and is about to take more tissue paper.

 

“I forgot the hand dryer’s not working,” the man says.

 

Seongwu really doesn’t understand why Restroom Guy is too chatty with him. He pays the guy no mind and turns on the faucet on the farthest right to avoid further contact and conversation.

 

“Hey, that one’s not working,” Restroom Guy says. “Try this one in the middle.”

 

“O-kay.”

 

Seongwu continues ignoring the nagging feeling that the guy is actually looking at him while he’s washing his hands. He’s been told he’s just paranoid most of the time, but he can’t help it—he makes the mistake of looking up.

 

Seongwu’s met with soft, crinkling eyes which he swears are strikingly too familiar.

 

“Hey, you look awfully familiar. How long have you been working here?” Restroom Guy says.

 

“Just started last week actually.” Seongwu doesn’t know how he can lie through his teeth right now.

 

“What department?”

 

“Uhhh—” Seongwu’s cut off by the vibrating phone in his pocket.

 

It’s his sister calling him. He’d kiss his sister later for literally saving his ass at the right moment.

 

“Hey, I need to take this call. So, I gotta go?”

 

“Oh sure. See you around, I guess?”

 

Seongwu nods briefly and strides quickly out of the restroom. He answers the call from his sister while heading for the nearest elevator.

 

“Hey!” Seongwu exclaims. “You have no idea how you just saved me just now. You are the best sister anyone can ask for!”

 

“What are you so happy about?” Jinah says. “I just called to tell you that Mr. Friday Night left you a note with his number. I can’t believe you missed telling me this part.”

 

“What?” Seongwu slows down as he spots the elevator.

 

“Yeah, I think he left it by your bedside table but I saw it lying on the floor. Must be you and your silly, unorganized lifestyle.”

 

“Well, I doubt it’s a working number anyways. You can throw it in the trash.”

 

“This guy is really funny, though. Wait I’ll send you a pic of his note. He signed it as if it’s an autograph.”

 

“Okay. I can’t believe you called me for this. I gotta put the phone down now.” Just as he switches the call off as he’s stepping inside the elevator, he sees Restroom Guy spotting him and approaching the elevator as well.

 

Seongwu wants to keep his pride and his job. He’s never pressed anything this fast in his life as he presses the _close_ sign. But somehow, Seongwu still catches the strange look of recognition in the eyes of Restroom Guy.

 

As he’s stepping out of the revolving glass doors of the CJ E&M building, Seongwu tries to remember if he knows Restroom Guy from somewhere, but figures that the guy’s  just got a common kind of face.

 

He stops thinking about it as he reaches the bus stop and waits for the next bus. He didn’t bring his car with him because parking within the CJ E&M vicinity is extra challenging, and he’d rather not be stressed about it.

 

An old woman waiting beside him drops her handkerchief, and Seongwu bends down to pick it up. He then notices the ad for Hite on the bus stop.

 

Strange.

 

Restroom Guy really does have that common of a face.

 

But Seongwu wouldn’t be surprised if Restroom Guy is a celebrity. He did bump into the guy inside the CJ E&M building.

 

He checks his phone to check on messages he need to reply to. He opens one from his sister, the one with the attachment of the note that Mr. Friday Night apparently left for him.

 

His eyes widen as he sees the signature in the picture, and he quickly turns to the Hite ad just beside him.

 

 _Fuck_ , Seongwu thinks to himself.

 

As a bus arrives, his heart rate goes faster.

 

Because there, on the exterior of the bus, obnoxiously plastered and offensively staring at him in the face, is an ad of Kang Daniel holding a bottle of Hite with a million-watt smile.

 

And beside Seongwu is a larger version of the signature, just on a smaller ad on the bus stop, which also happens to be a clearer and albeit more legible version of the one on the picture his sister just texted him.

 

As he boards the bus and walks to an empty seat, Seongwu thinks of the odds.

 

The odds that restroom guy is Kang Daniel. And that Mr. Friday Night is also Kang Daniel.

 

Seongwu thinks that life is truly funny at times. Or maybe it’s just his.

  
  
  


 

 

“I can’t believe my dad is paying you to just stand around here and do nothing,” Seongwu comments pointedly at Jaehwan, his best friend, who is currently manning the cash register, but is mostly busy, possibly writing new lyrics for his new songs. Initially, Seongwu’s dad insisted on looking after the shop by himself, but since Jaehwan offered to bring his guitar whenever he’d visit, his dad, who’s always wanted the store to become a bit more lively, eventually gave in. Now, he even jams with Jaehwan from time to time with his own tambourine. Jaehwan says Seongwu’s dad is the coolest dad he knows.

 

“Hey! People do tend to come by,” Jaehwan says. “Tourists, mostly. They try to find foreign titles but then I let them discover on their own that alas, we mostly have Korean classics of course!”

 

It’s Friday afternoon and Seongwu got permission from his Boss to work from home. Their vintage video rental shop in Dongdaemun is not necessarily his home, but Seongwu’s working on a deadline about lovers reuniting after years of separation. He doesn’t know if he’s doing an okay job in capturing the tone that the producer wants, but he supposes that being around tapes of old Korean films may be just the inspiration he needs to finish this trailer.

 

From inside, he can sense that there’s some sort of commotion outside, but Seongwu really would rather finish piecing this project together so he can start on his other pending projects.

 

So much for a relaxing weekend.

 

Jaehwan briefly looks up from his lyrics and looks outside. “I heard there’s some sort of filming outside. Must be some big celebrities then.”

 

Seongwu gives a non-committal hum. His laptop is freezing every now and then, and he really just wants to finish cutting the scenes he needs.

 

“For someone who works in the biz, you sure seem like you’re unfazed by everything.”

 

“I don’t really interact directly with these celebrities. I mostly talk to producers who got the money you know.”

 

Jaehwan makes a appalled expression before shrugging and stepping outside to witness the commotion.

 

Seongwu remains unfazed and carries on with editing. In the middle of dragging the scene he trimmed to his final cut, the door opens.

 

Kang Daniel enters in his blonde glory.  

 

He spots Seongwu immediately and approaches his table. Alarmingly, there is that look of recognition in the other man’s  eyes, and Seongwu wants to run away at that very instant.

 

The odds really aren’t going in Seongwu’s favor.

 

“Funny seeing you here,” Daniel says. “I want to ask your name but can I use your restroom first?”

 

Seongwu doesn’t know how he manages to respond; it’s like his mouth has a mind of its own.

 

“Use of our restroom is for paying customers only,” Seongwu lets out.

 

Kang Daniel laughs. Seongwu can feel his resolve on the verge of crumbling. He points to the direction of the restroom.

 

 _What is it with them and restrooms, anyways?_ Seongwu thinks.

 

The door to the shop opens again, and in comes a really ecstatic Jaehwan.

 

“You won’t believe who just asked me if he could use our restroom!” Jaehwan exclaims.

 

“Humor me.” Seongwu’s pulling on his hair because now is not the right time for his Mr. Friday Night to come swooping in with his radiant eye smiles.

 

He hears the flushing of the toilet, and Seongwu can feel _himself_ flushing—he doesn’t want to have this conversation right now.

 

“Hey what are you so stressed about?” Jaehwan says. “Is your laptop failing you again? Do you want me to buy you a new one?”

 

Seongwu scoffs. Jaehwan can’t even afford a new showerhead.

 

Daniel decides to make an appearance then. “I’m sorry, I must have come at a bad time,” he says. “But thanks for letting me use your restroom.”

 

“Don’t mention it,” Seongwu replies shortly, still trying to look at his laptop and not at the towering bundle of smiles in front of him.

 

“Do you two know each other?” Jaehwan asks curiously.

 

“Well we met, bumped into each other again in a restroom. It’s our third time seeing each other but I still don’t know his name,” Daniel answers.

 

“Seongwu-yah, tell Kang Daniel your name,” Jaehwan insists.

 

Seongwu really hates his best friend sometimes.

 

He looks up to a waiting Kang Daniel who’s scratching his neck awkwardly, looking like he’s actually waiting for Seongwu to properly introduce himself. He sighs in defeat and stands up from his seat. “Ong Seongwu. My dad owns this shop.”

 

“So did you lie about working at CJ E&M?” Daniel says.

 

“Well, not exactly.”

 

“He makes trailers for a living. He’s a really cool person,” answers Jaehwan, who’s looking like a proud parent showing off his child.

 

“Kim Jaehwan.” Seongwu’s about to say something more, but Kang Daniel cuts him off.

 

“I agree though. He really seems like a cool person. It’s nice to meet you Seongwu-ssi. I’m Kang Daniel.”

 

Seongwu, on instinct, accepts the hand that Daniel gives him. The handshake momentarily brings back memories of urgent, burning touches under neon lights, slow and soft caresses under the white sheets of his bed. Seongwu immediately squashes those thoughts.

 

Daniel stands a little timidly than before and avoids eye contact before continuing to speak.

“I’m sorry I just left like that. I left you a note but I don’t think you saw it. Or maybe you did but decided to throw it away?”

 

Seongwu doesn’t know how to react to the fact that Daniel got most of it right, and the fact that Daniel rambling and acting all small and shy despite his towering height is doing strange things to him.

 

“Hey, uh, Daniel-ssi, I think they’re looking for you,” says Jaehwan, pointing to the wandering people outside equipped with headsets and walkie talkies.

 

“Oh,” says Daniel, who seems to have finally realized that he’s been gone for a long time and needs to be somewhere else. He brings out his phone and hastily types a text, presumably to the crew outside the rental shop.

 

Come to think of it, Seongwu realizes that the celebrity has a name plate pinned on his red hoodie.

 

“I have to go,” Daniel announces, looking at Seongwu and then to his phone. When he gets no response, he smiles weakly at Seongwu and then to Jaehwan before heading out for the door.

 

The bell to the opening door is about to make a sound when Seongwu finally decides to say something:

 

“I didn’t throw away your note!” he shouts.

 

Daniel stops and looks back at him, eyes glimmering with what seems like hope.

 

“I didn’t throw away your note,” Seongwu repeats.

 

Daniel remains quiet, but Seongwu’s combusting, somehow, unsure of where this is headed.

 

“Now go back to filming your show, superstar.”

 

Daniel visibly blushes and says nothing, but he smiles sweetly at Seongwu before finally heading out.

 

“What the hell was that Ong Seongwu?” asked Jaehwan with utter fascination.

 

Seongwu laughs, because he doesn’t’ really know where that came from either.

 

“ _I didn’t throw your note. Now go back to filming your show, superstar”_ quotes Jaehwan, dramatically waving his hands in the air while going back to the register.

 

“Stop it. I’ll explain after I finish my deadline okay. Go back to quietly writing your songs!”

 

Jaehwan, of course, doesn’t stay quiet all afternoon and keeps on bugging him endlessly. Seongwu, however, only responds with a cheeky smile at each jab. He tries not to think too much of boyish smiles and shy glances.

  
  


 

 

 

He’s looking over his next set of deadlines for the upcoming weeks as he’s drying his hair. He managed to upload his submission on time, and he got a message shortly after from the assistant producer that the tentative release is two weeks from now upon approval of their executive producers.

 

He hears a slight rap on his door before it’s opening with his sister barging in with the laundry basket.

 

Seongwu groans. “Ah, you really don’t know how knocking works do you?”

 

“Shut your face, little brother. I’m doing laundry tonight instead of tomorrow since I have to meet with additional sponsors for the upcoming exhibit.”

 

He’s still idly scrolling down on his phone when his sister mindlessly inspects the pockets of Seongwu’s discarded pants.

 

“I can’t believe you still have this.”

 

He looks up from his phone and looks at the note with Daniel’s autograph and number. Alarm bells go off in Seongwu’s head. He hasn’t told his sister yet, and he doesn’t know if he really wants to tell her or not. So he grabs the paper, avoiding the questioning look of his sister.

 

“My pants, my business.”

 

“Frankly, I don’t know if you’re talking about the note or something else, little brother.” His sister gives him a knowing smile coupled with wiggling eyebrows before leaving his room with the basket full of laundry.

 

It’s a couple of minutes before midnight. Seongwu figures the idol must be asleep already but he goes on and keys in the number from the note and types, “ _Hey, superstar. :))_ ”.

 

He hits the send button right away before remembering he hadn’t introduce himself.

 

He types another message saying, “ _This is restroom guy, Ong Seongwu btw_ ”, and sends it before his battery dies.

 

He reaches out for his charger and plugs it to the outlet beside his bed. He wonders if he should just leave his phone switched off for the rest of the night, or maybe he should charge it and turn it on. Just in case.

 

Just in case loses as Seongwu stands up to switch off his lights.

 

 _Just in case_ is probably asleep anyways, Seongwu figures as he starts drifting off to dreamland.

  
  
  
  


 

 

 

It turns out that Seongwu was wrong.

 

Daniel was pretty much awake when Seongwu sent his text.

 

Seongwu is still half asleep as he scrolls through the five consecutive texts that Daniel sent him.

The fifth one has a different timestamp from the first four texts. It was sent at 3:20 am, and Seongwu doesn’t think he’s in any position to ask yet why the heck Daniel was still awake at such an ungodly hour.

 

 _Hey sorry my phone died last night,_ Seongwu replies. _Only saw your texts now dw I’m not ded. :3_

 

Before he can even put on his slippers and get up from his bed, his phone vibrates, showing a new text from the idol.

 

_Sorry about the mini spam. Hope we can hang out sometime, soon? If I’m cool enough for you I guess? >.< _

 

_You’re cool enough in my book, superstar. See you soon! ;)_

 

He puts down his phone and starts preparing for his day, decidedly ignoring the implications of the winky face he just sent.

  
  
  
  


 

 

 

Seongwu is by no means a fan of constant texting. Sure, he uses SNS to flirt his way to dates with free drinks, and at times casual makeouts. But apart from his group of friends, his sister and his Dad, he doesn’t really make an effort to extend text conversations.

 

The credit really belongs to Daniel, for the most part.

 

A dozen of winky faces and other questionable emojis later, Seongwu gets a text from Daniel asking if he can drop by the video rental shop anytime during the coming week.

 

Seongwu casually replies, asking why Daniel can have so much free time in his hands, given how hectic his schedule is. He really has no clue how the idol life works but he’s pretty sure that dropping by a shabby video rental shop in Dongdaemun is far from the usual activities of a trending It Boy.

 

_It’s not shabby! The restroom was A Class! !! ! >__< _

 

Seongwu lets out a giggle while reading Daniel’s reply. What is it with them and restrooms?

 

The idol has been abusing his cringey emoji privileges and Seongwu can’t help but feel like he’s just talking to an old college friend, given how candid they are with each other.

 

“Did you get yourself a boyfriend, hyung?”

 

Seongwu is startled by an inquisitive look from Jihoon who’s standing behind him, practically a breath away from his neck, trying to take a peek at Seongwu’s phone.

 

“Hey, since when have you been concerned with my relationships?” Seongwu says.

 

“What relationships? You mean the poor lads you dump after an almost-hookup or two?”

 

“You make it sound like I’m some sort of a heartbreaker, Jihoon.”

 

“Well, aren’t you? Anyways, I don’t think I recall you texting anyone before with that face.”

 

“What face? This handsome face?” Seongwu asks as he nonchalantly gestures to his face.

 

Jihoon makes an affronted look and hands him a clipboard instead.

 

Jihoon is currently one thesis film away from completing his film degree.  And although Seongwu is pretty much determined into cutting off any links to his abandoned childhood dream, he keeps in touch with most of his classmates and juniors including Jihoon.

 

“We’re done with some of the sequences, but we’re still lacking some of the key shots especially those towards the end. Daehwi’s still in the middle of revising the lines for the last scenes. Woojin sent me the last batch of scenes he was able to edit this morning before the funeral.”

 

“How’s he holding up?”

 

“Still shocked. His uncle was practically his hero and the reason why he took Film.”

 

After a few beats, Seongwu asks Jihoon while tapping away on his laptop, cutting scenes that Jihoon and his team shot earlier this week, “How are you holding up?”

 

Jihoon sits down beside Seongwu and takes the clipboard, browsing through the pages. “We still have a long way to go but it’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. Besides, you’re already helping a lot by editing for us. If we could award you the Best Senior award, we totally would.” Jihoon offers Seongwu a sad albeit genuine smile. Seongwu reciprocates.

 

“I wish I could help you during weekdays,” Seongwu says. “Shoots are better than being cramped up in my desk finishing trailers for the cheesiest romcoms ever.”

 

“Then why aren’t you shooting rather than editing for other people? Why aren’t you making movies, hyung?”

 

Seongwu doesn’t reply. Instead, he drags the scenes he needs onto the timeline panel of his video editing software and stays quiet.

 

Jihoon says, “I’m sorry. I know it’s the last question you want to hear.”

 

Seongwu briefly looks at Jihoon, who then offers him an apologetic smile.

 

They suddenly hear a phone ringing, and for a heart-stopping moment, Seongwu mistakes it for his. But then Jihoon is getting up from his seat, phone to his ear, offering Seongwu a small smile before heading away from the table.

 

Seongwu’s own phone then vibrates on the table and he immediately opens the message.

 

_I thought of a funny joke. Do you wanna hear it? : D_

 

He replies a short _Try me_ , before going back to dragging the scenes in order, following the shot list that Jihoon gave. Maybe being textmates with Daniel wasn’t a bad idea after all.

  
  


 

 

 

“Dalja’s last trailers were not perfect but Seongwu…” His Boss pauses, seemingly thinking of how to phrase his next words.

 

“The producers are all asking for revisions on the trailers you submitted...” Another pause. “I already sweet-talked them into reconsidering, especially for the ones that will be behind schedule if they don’t release their tv spot trailers on-time.” He pauses again, contemplative gaze set on Seongwu. “I hope you can work extra hard on your next ones, Seongwu.”

 

Seongwu’s Boss, Kim Junmyeon, is a very straightforward man. He was two years his senior in film school and was basically the beacon of hope when Seongwu was going through the woes of a young unemployed film school graduate.

 

Junmyeon is nice and formal most of the time, to the point that it scares Seongwu since he’s always just waiting for a tipping point. Everyone in their office is. They even have bets on which of them will bring out their Boss’ nasty side. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened. _Yet_.

 

But if anything, they are all betting that it would be a one-on-one experience with their Boss, in the confines of the four gray walls of his office. The very office that Seongwu is in, at the very moment.

 

Junmyeon’s massaging his temple with an unreadable expression on his face.

 

“I don’t know what to suggest, but if dating brought out Dalja’s best albeit it led to her resignation, I hope you start dating around too? I don’t believe in meddling in my employees’ personal lives. But if it helps improve the quality of your work, I think I can make an exception. You get me?”

 

“You’re not meddling, Boss. You’re actually not the only person who’s insisting I date around again. But I’ve been told that I break hearts.”

 

“Ah, so we have a cynic.” Junmyeon laughs briefly. “So the guy I pay to make trailers for movies about love is a person who doesn’t believe in it?”

 

Seongwu offers Junmyeon an awkward smile.

 

“Tell you what, let’s give it a few more time, maybe you’ll find your muse and start being a patron saint for romance movies. You’re in for a raise if you play your cards right. You know that don’t you?”

 

Seongwu nods and Junmyeon gestures that he can go.

 

Just as he’s about to pull the glass door of his Boss’ office, Junmyeon says to him, “You don’t even have to date you know, you just need to find your muse. That’s it.”

 

“Noted, Boss.”

 

As he’s walking back to his desk, Seongwu takes his phone from his pocket to check for any new messages. He tries not to feel disappointed when there’s none.

  


 

 

 

Seongwu adamantly refused for a Friday night out tonight but as he’s stuck between Gunhee and Yoojung challenging each one on their table to take a shot, he decides to just go with the flow. He made them promise him, however, to keep him in check since he brought his car and would like to drive home in one piece, thank you very much.

 

By some sort of miracle, Junmyeon had urged everyone to get off work on-time and offered to treat them at a posh bar at Cheongdamdong. Junmyeon had nothing but high praises on the quality of whiskies and cocktails that this bar had to offer. Seongwu has little interest on these things but he does appreciate how cozy and contemporary the basement bar is. On top of the chic interior with a welter of handblown glass chandeliers on the ceiling, there’s a live band performing a jazz rendition of an English pop song. Seongwu does frequent a couple of bars, but not so much around Cheongdamdong or anywhere in Gangnam, especially speakeasy bars like this one.

 

It’s only been an hour since they arrived and Seongwu swears he’s seen some familiar faces pass by, from actors to models to some news anchors. He tries not to think of the possibilities of stumbling upon Daniel in this discreet jazz joint.

 

He didn’t agree to any plans of meeting up again and turned down all of Daniel’s offers to meet up, including all of Daniel’s insistent offers to show up at the video rental shop and hang out. Seongwu can’t have whatever it is he has with Daniel be witnessed by a snooping Jaehwan. He hasn’t even explained to his best friend about the whole Daniel thing from weeks ago.

 

Seongwu doesn’t even know if they can be called friends or just really friendly textmates.

 

He briefly hears all the girls in the table cheering as their Boss gulps down a very suspicious looking drink in one go. Seongwu tries to squash any thoughts on this Daniel thing and focuses on not drinking himself to death. He checks his phone for a moment and finds no new messages. Now that the alcohol has kicked in, the disappointment he feels becomes much stronger.

 

“I wonder who got our heartbreaker feeling down and lonely,” Doyeon mockingly says. Everyone’s heads are suddenly turning towards Seongwu, and he doesn’t know if he’s in the mood to indulge them or just brush them off.

 

“He’s been texting non-stop for these past couple of days. It’s actually scary.” Gunhee sounds like he’s not that drunk yet so Seongwu figures he might as well play safe, seeing as their resident gossiper is still capable of remembering anything that will be said tonight.

 

“If you must know, I am in fact, seeing someone,” Seongwu says. “And all of you will freak out when you find out who he is.”

 

“Kang Daniel?” Gunhee asks with exclamation.

 

Seongwu gulps as everyone else turns their attention to Gunhee, who’s got this deer in the headlights look on his face, index finger dramatically pointing towards something—

 

Or someone?

 

He squints further and sees a group of extremely attractive young men dressed in casual clothing entering the bar.

 

 _Fuck_ , Seongwu thinks as he sees none other than Kang Daniel in his blonde glory, donning an unbuttoned red-and-black checkered plaid shirt, with a black v-neck shirt underneath.

 

It’s suddenly gotten hotter, and Seongwu needs some space to think. Or rather, some space to run away to.

 

It’s not on his agenda for the night to bump into the very person he’s sort of trying to avoid. So he slowly gets up from his seat and finds his way towards the restrooms.

 

As he turns on the faucet, he feels his phone vibrate continuously.

 

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, This better not be_ —

 

Seongwu’s eyes go wide as he sees Daniel’s caller ID, and he wonders whether he should just ignore it. He lets it vibrate until the call stops.

 

He thinks of excuses he can say to his workmates so he can leave early and eliminate any chances of having to possibly converse with Daniel.

 

When Seongwu comes back to their table, he tells them, “My sister called me, urgently asking for my help for her upcoming exhibit.”

 

“On a freaking Friday night?” Doyeon questions, already sounding half-drunk.

 

“You know how my sister is. When she doesn’t get what she wants, it gets really ugly so… yeah. I better get home.”

 

Junmyeon looks like he’s contemplating something but gives him a brief nod.  

 

“Take care on your way home then,” Junmyeon finally says.

 

He receives pouts and sleepy glares from his co-workers. Seongwu doubts they’ll even remember him leaving like this. Most of them already looks buzzed.

 

He feels his phone vibrating again and decides that it really is his cue to leave.

 

“Hey, your heart’s lighting up dude.” Gunhee points out drunkenly towards Seongwu’s breast pocket, his phone lighting up inside.

 

Seongwu gives them one last wry smile and takes his jacket from his seat. He feels his strides lengthen as he walks away from their table. He calls it a win as he reaches the entrance without any hitch.

 

His phone stops ringing and he’s about to get the keys from his pocket when he feels a tap on his shoulder.

 

Seongwu turns around on instinct, thinking it’s just Gunhee or any of his co-workers trying to coerce him into staying longer.

 

“Hey.” Daniel grins at him. “Bailing already?”

 

Seongwu’s brain temporarily fries at how blinding Daniel’s smile is.

 

“Mind if I tag along? Or are you heading home?”

 

 _Even Daniel’s eye smiles are blinding_ , Seongwu thinks. Heck, everything about Daniel is blinding.

 

“Gosh, I’m sorry if I’m imposing.” Daniel visibly deflates. “I just thought that maybe I can surprise you and I’ve been calling you trying to figure out if you were the person I saw earlier when the guys and I walked in and I—”

 

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down, superstar,” Seongwu finally manages to say.

 

Daniel gives him a warm smile and Seongwu feels the urge to keep that smile on Daniel’s face.

 

“I’m heading out but we can hang, I guess,” Seongwu says. “But aren’t you with your group members?”

 

“I told them I suddenly have plans and my manager agreed as long as I get home in one piece and not mauled by fans on my way home.”

 

“Well, I can be your ride home.”

 

Daniel visibly blushes and Seongwu realizes the implications of his simple offer. He can’t help but giggle at the situation. Everything feels like a repeat performance of another, albeit wilder Friday night from a few weeks ago.

 

A willing and radiant Daniel basking in the glow of the moonlight.

 

An impulsive decision to escape with the city lights and the cold night air as their witness.

 

The difference though is that this time, Seongwu is completely sober, and he may or may not be a little charmed.

 

“Now, where shall I take you, superstar?”

  


 

 

 

Daniel couldn’t have picked a better destination for the both of them.

 

“You said you needed to watch something romantic for your work,” Daniel elaborates as he tries to check if they will be able to reach the cinema in time for the last full show screening of _The Shape of Water_.

 

“It’s an American fantasy drama film about a mute cleaner falling in love with a human-like amphibian creature.” Daniel animatedly explains to him while fiddling with his seatbelt. The idol is beaming and Seongwu simply can’t rain on his parade and say that yes, Seongwu is perfectly aware of what the film is about. Movies are his life, after all.

 

But an animated Daniel is a cute Daniel, and so Seongwu doesn’t say anything.

 

Instead, Seongwu agrees to Daniel’s movie pick and says he’s excited for the human-like amphibian creature bit and the fact that it’s a film by Guillermo Del Toro.

 

“He’s the person behind Pacific Rim, right? I loved Pacific Rim!” Daniel proclaims to him, his satoori seeping through his deceiving Seoul accent.

 

Seongwu finds it cute that Daniel also knows a thing or two about movies. The satoori may or may not have made everything even cuter, made him even cuter.

 

“We have to pay separately okay? Or you can pay first but I will pay you later but then you have to accept it,” Seongwu says to Daniel as he rolls his window up after getting a parking ticket.

 

Seongwu doesn’t want to give Daniel the wrong idea that he’s here for a free movie. Seongwu’s here because he’s intrigued as to how it’d be like having Daniel for company, but he’s a working adult, fully capable of paying for his movies, thank you very much.

 

Daniel only gives him a toothy grin before getting out of Seongwu’s car to buy their tickets.

  
  
  


 

 

 

He’s about to call Daniel and ask if he’s already bought their tickets when he hears his name.

 

He looks up and sees Daniel grinning and waving at him, looking snazzy and comfortable in the black hoodie Seongwu lent him. Daniel needs to stay under radar after all, and Seongwu’s hoodie is their only option.

 

“I still can’t believe you’re making me watch a fantasy romance film with you. Love is already some kind of fantasy on its own. Putting the two together is like double jeopardy.”

 

Daniel giggles at that as he gives Seongwu his ticket. They start walking towards the cinema written on their tickets.

 

“The movie hasn’t even begun yet and you’re already tearing it to shreds. You’re such a cynic.”

 

“It’s not the movie I’m tearing apart. I just think love is a propaganda. And movies, or well, any form of art or popular media, loves capitalizing on it since it speaks to most people.”

 

“Except you, apparently.” Seongwu can hear a snort in Daniel’s reply.

 

“I said most, not all. I’m not a special case. Just not part of the majority.”

 

“Too cool to fall in love?”

 

Seongwu is taken aback and looks at Daniel who has this strange look in his face, a look that Seongwu can’t decipher.

 

“It’s like you’re becoming cooler and cooler every second I’m with you, I don’t think I can catch up.”

 

Daniel’s gaze is piercing right through him. Seongwu’s insides are suddenly feeling weak.

 

“Hey, that’s hyung to you, you brat.” Yep, Seongwu’s favorite defense mechanism is his mouth.

 

Daniel slows down, turns to Seongwu with his eyebrow raised.

 

“Did we ever talk about who’s older?”

 

Seongwu doesn’t want to come up with excuses. “I… I might have looked up your birthday once.” Jaehwan randomly read some trivia online about Daniel, including his birthdate, blood type and ideal type. “Seniority is important to me,” he says half-jokingly.  

 

Daniel, the brat, is still smiling at him smugly, and somehow Seongwu feels more caught.

 

“I thought I could use the Hyung card at a perfect moment.”

 

“So is this the perfect moment, _hyung_?” Daniel asks, turning to look at Seongwu again.

 

Honestly, Seongwu’s walking on pins and needles trying not to get affected by all the attention Daniel’s giving him. The _hyung_ part makes it worse.

 

“Maybe so.” Seongwu hates how his mouth’s just moving on its own, responding quickly to anything Daniel’s saying or asking. Seongwu doesn’t even remember what Daniel was asking in the first place.

 

“I’ll make sure it stays that way then, hyung,” Daniel says.

 

He then gives him a blinding grin before strolling forward to the entrance of the theater. And Seongwu just follows, his mind on high alert, his heart beating erratically.

It’s about an hour into the movie when he notices the mixture of disgust and repulsion on Daniel’s face. It’s during a slightly disturbing scene, and if Seongwu inches closer, he’s guessing he can see some actual tears forming under Daniel’s eyes.

 

The greens and blues from the screen are reflecting on Daniel’s features and no matter how absurd his expressions are, somehow Seongwu is charmed. He keeps his glances to a minimum but he still gets caught by Daniel, who instantly offers him a toothy grin for every time he catches Seongwu looking.

 

The highlight of the entire date, however, if they can call it that, is when the leads made love.

 

It was a poignant scene, beautifully shot and scored, but Seongwu’s attention is elsewhere.

 

Because for the most part, he’s just looking at Daniel, whose entire face is blushing to the tips of his ears. A clear effervescent pink.    

 

Seongwu is fucking charmed and just wants to call it a night, but he tucks the image of a blushing Daniel somewhere underneath the depths of his mind.

 

Seongwu has always loved the cinema, always loved movies. But at that very moment, nothing is more fascinating than Daniel.

  
  


 

 

 

“You weren’t kidding when you said you live around the area,” Seongwu says.

 

Daniel laughs while taking off his seatbelt. Seongwu doesn’t know why he has this urge to talk some more.

 

Seongwu feels like Cinderella, but in reverse; he’s the one trying to keep Prince Charming from disappearing back into his world.

 

Suddenly, he has an idea.

 

“Before you go, can I show you something I’ve been working on? I mean, something I’ve worked on, worked on as in something that needs revising according to the producer.”

 

Daniel stays still, expectant and eager.

 

Seongwu’s suddenly nervous. He’s never the type to personally show people his trailers. He’d link them to his friends, sure, but he never makes them watch _his babies_ while he’s with them. He’s not sure he can take the scrutiny.

 

And yet.

 

He gulps as he hands his phone over to Daniel. It has always been his habit to have copies of his trailers with him. From experience, ideas often come to him at the most random of times and places.

 

“Please be gentle with my baby.”

 

Daniel beams at him before he proceeds to press play. Seongwu just wants to die.

 

The trailer he made for this movie runs for about two minutes and eleven seconds. Every second is excruciating as he’s watching the light from his phone illuminate Daniel’s face.

 

He’s trying to take in the minute changes in Daniel’s expression. He hears the audio cues from his trailer and tries to note in which parts Daniel reacted the most. Daniel’s “oooohhh’s” and “aaaahhhh’s” don’t help in steadying Seongwu’s rattling heartbeat.

 

It truly is the longest two minutes and eleven seconds of his life.

 

Daniel finally speaks up, “That was interesting, hyung.”

 

Seongwu looks at him dumbfoundedly as he gets his phone back. He feels a little dejected because _interesting_ definitely doesn’t mean _amazing_ , but it doesn’t mean _disastrous_ either.

 

It must have been evident on his face that Daniel’s suddenly flapping his arms, looking worried that he might have said something wrong.

 

“Be honest. What did you think?” Seongwu means business and no matter how cute Daniel is acting at that instant, he genuinely wants to hear what Daniel has to say. “Come on, I won’t be hurt. I’m a professional.”

 

Daniel takes a deep breath. “I…think your approach could have been lighter.”

 

Daniel looks at him and looks like he’s seemingly careful of his every word. “I don’t know how the movie ends but you made it seem—” he visibly backpedals. “I mean the trailer made it seem that they’re really not getting back together. And I, well, I’m not saying you should mislead people into thinking they end up back together but I think you should still give some sort of hope that they will.”

 

Daniel stills, as if he’s having a voila moment. “That’s it, hyung! Hope!” The younger shifts in his seat, inching closer to Seongwu. “You could use a little bit of hope.”

 

Daniel pauses as if he’s waiting for any reaction from Seongwu before he can continue. “I have no idea if people out there deliberately watch movies that they know will make them sad but I think they’d be okay if the journey to that ending is worth it.”

 

Seongwu lets out a light laugh. “It’s funny you mention the ending. I don’t even have the final footage with me yet but yeah, I’ve always thought they won’t end up back together. I guess it really shows how much I hate romances.”

 

Seongwu’s still laughing but Daniel has this sad look on his face.

 

“How even more ironic is it that we went to see one just now huh?” Seongwu adds. “I can’t even process what I feel about the ending. I should just resign honestly. I think this really means I’m not cut out for romances. I’m really heartless, aren’t I?”

 

“No, no. I don’t think you are.”

 

Seongwu stills and just looks at Daniel.

 

“I think it just means you look at endings as something final,” Daniel says. “I don’t watch a lot of romances either. I’m happy with my Marvel movies, thank you very much.”

 

Seongwu laughs, much more genuine this time.

 

“You’re not heartless, hyung,” Daniel insists. “Maybe your heart just got rusty and just needs some fine tuning.”

  
  


 

 

 

The moment he arrives home, Seongwu opens his laptop and runs his editing software. He creates a new file and decides to start from scratch.

 

The producer mentioned his take was dry and uninspiring. Daniel thinks his approach could have been lighter. With a bit of hope.

 

Seongwu selects a couple of scenes with either of the characters smiling, and even scenes with wishful longing stares of the leads without the other looking back. He adds them onto the cut, edits them to the beat of a nostalgic Alexandre Desplat-sounding instrumental that Jaehwan gave him from a few weeks back.

 

In a matter of two hours and two cups of coffee later, he plays the entire thing, smiling to himself because _wow_ , he thinks he sort of understands the selling point of the film now, even with the incomplete footage the producers gave him.

 

Seongwu finally understands what Daniel meant.

 

He still has a lot of other pending revisions he need to submit, but he’s not worried. He really isn’t.

 

When he goes to sleep at 5 am, he somehow dreams of a clusterfuck of blues and greens, amphibians, dimly lit car rides, and a certain blonde boy and his blinding smile.

 

 

 

 


	2. in the mood for love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kang Daniel’s rendezvous with a Friend in Dongdaemun was the hot topic that morning.

 

 

_“Something is burning but I can’t tell what it is.”_

\- Fortesa Latifi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their wildest encounter is on a Tuesday night.

 

Daniel texts him, _I’m sorry I always forget your jacket. Will drop by the shop if it’s ok with u, hyung?_

 

Seongwu’s already broken his own rules of spending an entire night with Daniel, so he immediately replies with, _Sure!! Let’s go for dinner if you aren’t too busy??? Or r u? D :_

 

“Aha! I knew you’re dating him! I knew it!” Jaehwan is looking at him incredulously, and Seongwu feels his cheeks slightly flaming and locks his phone immediately.

 

“Can he come to one of my gigs, hyung, can he? He can sing if he wants but wait, does he sing? I don’t really keep up with the idols these days.”

 

“He raps and sings in some stanzas, mind you. And he can dance!”

 

Jaehwan gasps. “Who are you and what have you done to Ong Seongwu?”

 

Seongwu brushes it off and turns to his laptop. He’s now working on a revision of one of the last trailers Dalja submitted. The producers commented on how Dalja’s take was too sweet and showed too much of the key moments of the movie. Seongwu was advised to take it down a notch, cut some scenes and replace them with slightly more vague scenes.

 

And Seongwu understands. That’s just how producers want trailers to be most of the time. Entertaining and captivating, yes, but still have some semblance of vagueness to them. Vagueness that can only be cleared if you’d watch the movie for yourself.

 

“Stop working and start talking,” Jaehwan pesters him. “Or at least, tell me when did you ever start taking an interest in idols.”

 

Seongwu answers him with a shrug and proceeds to importing the music he’ll try to use for this revision.

 

“So it’s true, huh? This is the charm of Kang Daniel.”

 

Seongwu laughs at that. He has no excuses, really. He figured that there’s no harm in engaging in a little trip down the rabbit hole, a.k.a. Daniel’s group’s videos.

 

 _Andromeda_ is a seven-membered boy group comprised of Kang Daniel, Kang Dongho, Kim Yongguk, Joo Haknyeon, Yoo Seonho, Takada Kenta, and Im Youngmin. They debuted in 2013 but only hit it big during the second quarter of 2017, with some sort of viral video that took the netizens, and apparently, the rest of South Korea by storm.

 

In all fairness, he really tried to be as unbiased as he could, and aimed to familiarize himself with all of the member’s faces.

 

But alas, Daniel monopolizes his attention, whether he’s at the center or even at the side of their formation. Seongwu likes to think it’s only because he already knows Daniel slightly better than everyone else, so his eyes just automatically focuses on the familiar.

 

In his opinion, however, the best Daniel is the gigantic puppy Daniel, with barely any makeup at all, laughing at all the cheesy wordplays Seongwu’s throwing at him.

 

Most of all, what Seongwu likes best is Daniel’s laughs. Daniel laughs to his heart’s content, with his eyes completely shrinking, bunny teeth out, cheeks about to burst from all the happiness in his system.

 

Sure, Seongwu is aware that he can be funny at times, but with Daniel, he feels like he’s a million times funnier, if not the funniest man on earth. And he likes feeling that way.

 

He really, really likes making Daniel laugh.

 

“Your boyfriend’s here!” Jaehwan announces as he goes back to his post at the cash register.

 

Seongwu is jarred from his thoughts and looks up to find Daniel entering in slow strides.

 

“Ignore him,” he tells Daniel, who’s beaming at him, as per usual. He’s curious as to how Daniel can be so happy all the time. Perhaps Seongwu’ll ask him sometime.

 

“I had this dry-cleaned I swear. Sorry for only returning it now, hyung. Things are starting to get busy again.” Daniel’s signaling for Seongwu to lean closer. So he does.

 

“The agency wants us to release a winter single,” Daniel says. Seongwu feels Daniel’s grin near his own lips, barely a centimeter from his face. “Our previous comeback track performed well on the charts so they want us to see if we can gain more traction, especially on the older crowd. So expect a ballad from us soon, hyung.”

 

Seongwu’s heart does a little flip flop at how trusting Daniel is at this point of their friendship. He leans back, inching away from their shared space.

 

“Well then, I can’t wait to hear you sing.” Seongwu genuinely means it. He prefers straight ballads over local pop songs but there’s some sort of eagerness brewing in him to hear how Daniel will sound singing it.

 

Daniel scratches his nape, mumbling, “Don’t say that. I don’t think you’re even familiar with our songs.” There’s a pout in Daniel’s voice. “Or are you?”

 

Seongwu unlocks his phone and jumps to his recent music history, playing the last Andromeda song he listened to earlier while driving home from work. He holds out the phone to Daniel and lets the younger man scroll through it.

“You even bought them?” Daniel says incredulously, his face lighting up so brightly, a slight color of pink on his cheeks.

 

Daniel hands him back his phone, a hint of a shy smile on his lips. “You didn’t have to download them. I could have just given you a physical copy of our album.”

 

Seongwu’s swelling with a strange sense of pride that he made Daniel blush. “But I wanted to. Okay?” He answers him simply. “You saw my trailer and even watched others I did before. Friends do this much for each other, don’t they?”

 

“Friends?” There’s a playful lilt in Daniel’s voice. “Is that what we are now, hyung?”

 

“Hey I’m going to be offended if I don’t at least count as a friend to you,” Seongwu jokes. He harmlessly pokes Daniel’s sides and within seconds, the younger is laughing, eyes crinkling, cheeks blushing.

 

“Okay, okay. Stop it, hyung. I’m confirming this friendship,” Daniel says happily, weakly pushing away Seongwu’s hand.

 

“I’m just...” Daniel starts, looking unsure whether he should continue. “If this is how you win friends over, I wonder how you’re winning your dates over. You should give me tips.”

 

“Why? Got anyone you like at the moment?” he immediately asks Daniel.

 

“Yeah,” Daniel says, gaze intent on Seongwu.

 

Seongwu should feel powerful that he’s able to get answers to questions like these from Daniel, but instead he’s feeling somewhat deflated at the possibility that Daniel is interested in someone at the moment.

 

 _Must be another idol,_ Seongwu’s mind supplies. _Birds of the same feather and all that shizz._

 

“Who’s the lucky person?” he asks absently, not really hoping for an answer. “An idol? Someone who acts?”

 

There’s a hint of a smile on Daniel’s lips, and it’s getting a tiny bit painful for Seongwu by the minute.

 

“He’s not either of those,” Daniel finally replies, scratching his neck.

 

And Seongwu waits, waits for a name, for a description, for anything.

 

“He’s not someone famous,” is what Daniel only adds. “But he’s pretty cool.”

 

Daniel’s intently looking at him, but the first thing Seongwu focuses on are his ears: Daniel’s fucking blushing to the tip of his ears. Seongwu’s about to open his mouth to ask further. He can regret asking later.

 

A phone rings.

 

Seongwu’s heart get stuck in his throat as Daniel’s grabs his phone, gaze still focused on Seongwu, unwavering. But the spell breaks when Daniel finally looks at his phone and then back at Seongwu again before turning his back to him to answer the call.

 

A storm of possible comebacks pass through Seongwu’s mind and he’s just too rattled to even try and pick which one’s the best, or which one will knock Daniel’s socks off, just how Daniel just knocked his.

 

He can’t tame the beating of his heart so he stays quiet, trying to keep his feelings in check. He’s been told he often stutters when he’s flustered. He’s not sure if he’s ready for Daniel to be aware how he affects Seongwu right now. Seongwu hasn’t even processed everything yet.

 

He sees Jaehwan, at the register, making kissy faces at him and giving him a thumbs up. Jaehwan can be such an annoying best friend sometimes.

 

Seongwu doesn’t notice Daniel ending the phone call and turning back to face him.

 

“My manager just called,” Daniel says.

 

“Is it time for you to head back, prince charming?” Seongwu gives himself a mental pat on the back, for being able to slide back to his usual chatty self.

 

Daniel stops in his tracks. “Wow, that’s new. You’ve just been using _superstar_ all this time. Please tell me that prince charming is higher in status.”

 

Seongwu just laughs, inwardly berating himself for slipping up and revealing his internal nickname for Daniel. “Sometimes I just like variations on things. To keep looking cool to people—to you.” He adds a wink for comedic purposes. And it’s effective because in a second, Daniel’s laughing at him again, ears showing a hint of pink once more.

 

 _Ah_ , making Daniel happy really makes Seongwu feel like a million bucks.

 

“What did your manager say?” Seongwu says.

 

“He said I can have around an hour or so to myself before they pick me up.”

 

Seongwu smiles with mischief, knowing exactly where he wants to take Daniel for that one short hour. He files away his curiosity for another time.

 

 

 

 

 

Bustling with life is one of Seongwu’s favorite hideaways in the city: the Dongdaemun market.

 

It’s just a couple of blocks away from their video rental shop, and it’s the most convenient way for him to stuff himself with food whenever he’s dying of hunger but can’t decide what he’s exactly craving for. His dad used to tell him that this is also the reason why he was happy with the location of their shop. They basically have a food mecca right within their midst, and Seongwu always bursts with life once all different kinds of delicious smells reach his nostrils. Diets are overrated, anyways.

 

“No, they are not, hyung,” Daniel says with a laugh.

 

Seongwu flushes. Oops, he might have accidentally voiced his thoughts out loud again.

 

“I’m not showing any skin for the winter single but I still need to look thinner in front of the camera,” Daniel divulges. “I tend to put on weight easily.”

 

Seongwu frowns at that. He thinks a chubby Daniel is just as cute as regular Daniel. In fact, he thinks chubby Daniel is slightly more superior but doesn’t say that out loud.

 

“Can you hold this for me?” He passes the cup of _shikhye_ they bought to Daniel, which he accepts willingly. Seongwu insisted he’d buy one for each of them, but Daniel said he’s not too thirsty and promised to only take a few sips.

 

After passing by numerous stalls of various street food, they decide to settle at a one selling all kinds of _tteokboki_. Daniel sits across Seongwu, their small table making the night somehow a little more intimate.

 

“Now this is how you pay respect to this sacred bowl of _tteokboki_ . Watch and learn, young one.” He whips the chopsticks in the hands as if it was a wand. He hears Daniel giggle. He proceeds to mix the _tteokboki_ thoroughly and basks in the smell that he loves, along with the added freshness brought about by the perilla leaves thrown in with the shredded cabbage. He then goes for it and takes a not-so-small bite, going the extra mile widening his eyes for added dramatic effect.

 

“Delicious!” He mumbles as he makes more exaggerated facial expressions of bliss, now looking up at Daniel who looks like he’s about to snap and go for the bowl.

 

He tries to pick up a chunk and holds it near Daniel’s mouth. “Say ‘aah’!” he says. Daniel looks at him weirdly, but goes on and opens his mouth for him.

 

Seongwu continues chewing as he carefully watches the string of emotions passing by Daniel’s face as the younger chews on his food.

 

“Not so bad, eh?” he brags to Daniel. “You know what makes things even better?” he asks as he reaches out for the _shikhye_ on Daniel’s side of the table.

 

“This.” Seongwu slurps, again with an exaggerated expression of bliss, and Daniel looks at him like he’s having the crisis of his life, eyes strangely focused on Seongwu’s mouth.

 

“Hey, don’t worry. We can buy another one if you like it that much,” Seongwu says. “You can drink it on your way back to your dorm. I’ll treat you.”

 

“No, it’s not that. It’s just.” Daniel stops and looks even more frazzled, slightly donning a bit of pink on his cheeks. Daniel’s eyes are focused on his lips, then briefly meets his eyes, but goes back to looking at his lips again. Seongwu needs a fucking break to be honest.

 

“Nevermind,” Daniel says as he goes for the chopsticks on Seongwu’s hands and takes in a mouthful of tteokboki.

 

Now it’s Seongwu’s turn to look at the movement of Daniel’s lips as he chews. _Wow, is he wearing lip gloss?_ Seongwu’s mind is in shambles as he slurps the rest of the _shikhye_ until it’s empty.

 

“So, why movies, hyung?” Daniel suddenly asks him.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“You can edit for TV shows. For the news, for variety shows. So why movies?”

 

“Do you want to hear the story on how I met the love of my life?” Seongwu says, making sure to color his voice with just the right amount of intrigue.

 

Daniel stops chewing his food to stare at Seongwu.

 

“I met _her_ when I was ten, and I’ve been faithfully meeting _her_ ever since.”

 

There’s an unreadable expression in Daniel’s face so Seongwu clarifies, “Hey, we met _her_ last week! The Shape of Water, remember?”

 

A light bulb seems to have lit up in Daniel’s head as he visibly looks relieved. “The movie theater is the love of your life?”

 

“Cinema, Daniel. _Movies_. Everything about the movies.”  Both of Seongwu’s arms stretch out, making wild gestures with his hands.

 

Daniel’s just looking at him with some sort of a silent awe. Seongwu continues, looking at his cup already empty of _shikhye_ , lightly tapping it against the table.

 

“When you come to the theater, you expect to be blown away. Granted, it doesn’t always happen, but when it does—” He looks up at Daniel. “It’s magic.”

 

His hands let go of the cup. They feel clammy and he doesn’t know what to do with them. Daniel is still quiet, seemingly waiting for him to continue.

 

“We all have our own lives, our problems, things we want to run away from. This might sound bad but movies help us escape.” He feels a crack in his voice.“They take us to a world, worlds different from our own and make us feel things we don’t usually feel. Sometimes, even things we’ve never felt before.”

 

Seongwu feels his own heart fluttering with every word. “I don’t think you can get any more magical than that,” he finishes, feeling a ghost of a smile on his lips.

 

Movies are really the love of his life. From having enjoyed _Save The Green Planet_ as a scrawny kid within the confines of the storage room of their video rental shop, to actually writing an essay on why he should be considered for a scholarship for his film degree as a hopeful nineteen-year-old, he can’t see any other direction for his life.

 

“The whole editing for trailers came in later, but yeah, I can never see myself not working with movies, not working for movies.” He feels like he’s about to say something more but his more conscious self steps on the mental brakes;he has bared himself too much for the night.

 

Daniel laughs. And Seongwu doesn’t know how to feel about that.

 

“You find this funny?” Seongwu gently asks him.

 

“No. It’s just years ago, I was waiting tables at a restaurant back home.” Daniel says, with a faraway look on his face. “And I said the same thing.”

 

Daniel’s smiling and on instinct, Seongwu feels a smile about to grace his lips as well.

 

“I said I can never not see myself performing.” Daniel pauses. “I’ve been dancing for as long as I remember and I don’t think I’ll stop soon. I didn’t think it would be like this, really.”

 

He pauses again, thinking, and continues, “Everything still feels surreal and I feel like I’m only one pinch away from waking up from all of this, and then I’ll back to waiting tables at home. Two hundred miles away from Seoul. Two hundred miles away from my dreams and all the endless possibilities.”

 

The dark circles under the younger’s eyes are darker than when Seongwu last saw him. Seongwu holds back a frown.

 

“Shall I pinch you everytime we meet so you’re reminded that this is real and that South Korea is at your feet?” Seongwu jokes cheekily.

 

Daniel laughs before continuing, “I just don’t see my life outside of all this anymore, hyung.”

 

Seongwu’s pouring water on his empty cup and reaches for Daniel’s empty glass of water. “A toast,” he then says, raising his cup. “A toast to us doing what we love. May we keep doing what we love. May we keep doing what makes us happy.” Daniel nods, as he’s clinking his glass with Seongwu’s cup.

 

Daniel’s smiling at him after they both drink. Seongwu feels as if he’s half a fraud however, because he left half of his story untold.  

 

“She wants me to drive her to a fanmeeting?” a loud voice suddenly says. “She’s been crushing on that Kang Daniel kid for months now.”

 

Seongwu sees Daniel choke and promptly pours some more water into his glass. He spots the voice coming from a nearby table, and Seongwu tries to be discreet about eavesdropping.

 

“And are you? Are you gonna support her?” one of the guys at the table says. He’s wearing basketball shorts at the onset of winter, like some assholes always did back when Seongwu was in university. “Must be nice having women fall in love with you just by being cute on TV.”

 

Daniel visibly flushes. Seongwu’s fist clenches; the comment doesn’t sit too well with him.

 

“I don’t know, man,” another guy wearing a snapback whines. “These idols… they scare me. Like they could be cute on screen, but who knows what they’re really like? For all we know, Kang Daniel might be fake and just acts cute for the cameras.”

 

Daniel’s head hangs low. Seongwu thinks he might just punch someone.

 

Basketball Shorts Guy snorts. “I mean, he’s not even that handsome to be honest.”

“Yep, that’s it,” Seongwu whispers to himself before going over to that nearby table. He briefly sees Daniel panicking, keeping his head low just in case people there notice, but Seongwu is bent on speaking his mind.

 

“Hey, excuse me, can I take a look at your faces for a minute?” Seongwu asks the two men.  They don’t look that much older than him; they’re probably around his or Daniel’s age.

 

The two ugly men look at Seongwu strangely and then at each other, and then at Seongwu again. Seongwu isn’t really keen on judging other people’s appearances, but for tonight, he wants to make an exception.

 

“Okay thank you. I just wanted to confirm if you were handsome enough to say that Daniel’s not that handsome.” Seongwu knows he worded it wrongly but tonight he doesn’t really care. He allows his mouth to do the talking. He blames the _shikhye_.

 

The man with the snapback glares up at him. “Got a problem with us buddy? Are you his fan? Is that why?” The uglier—less attractive one says, and Seongwu feels he’s on the verge of snapping but he feels a hand on his wrist.

 

It’s Daniel, whose back is facing away from the table. The hood in his jacket is up, and he’s mouthing for him and Seongwu to leave. But nothing is really over unless Seongwu says it is.

 

“Yep, that’s right. Take your friend with you. Can’t even accept facts about some random idol.” Seongwu notes that it’s still the less attractive one speaking.

 

“You know what, we’re leaving, my friend and I!” Seongwu snaps. “Like you said, I can’t accept the fact that someone with your face dared to question a person’s genuineness. Good luck with your girlfriend!”

 

“ **Oh my God, is that Kang Daniel**?”

 

Seongwu’s attention immediately snaps to a group of girls from another table. He hears a wave of murmurs of varying volumes. He’s pretty sure all eyes are on them at this instant.

 

He sees the people inside the tent, including the owner, going for their smartphones to document one of South Korea’s hottest icons in a middle of a possible fight in the streets of Dongdaemun.

 

He feels a tug in his arm and Seongwu allows himself to be pulled away.

 

Daniel moves first and grabs Seongwu by the wrist before heading out of the tent. Once outside, they walk faster. Seongwu’s wrist slightly burns from Daniel’s hold, but he tries to pay no mind to it and focuses on following Daniel to whichever direction he’s headed.

 

“ **Hey, Kang Daniel’s here!** ” a couple of squeals follow, and Seongwu knows they’re done for. _Fuck._

 

Daniel’s hold on Seongwu’s wrist loosens just to intertwine with Seongwu’s fingers.

 

“Sorry, hyung,” Daniel says to him before they start making a break for it, turning to the nearby corner.

 

Seongwu hears the girls still tailing them so they keep on running—or well, Daniel keeps on running and dragging Seongwu in tow, who just so happens to be not the athletic type. Daniel gracefully avoids the obstructions on the narrow path they’re running in but the same can’t be said for Seongwu who’s barely keeping up and even bumps into some boxes and pails along the way.

 

Daniel takes another turn and finds a small space between two walls, with no lighting whatsoever. He squeezes himself aside and moves further and for a moment Seongwu’s lagging on what he has to do, but then he feels Daniel’s other hand take him by his shoulders to squeeze them both into the small space.

 

Seongwu is stunned at how two grown men can squeeze in that tiny space but— _fuck._

 

Daniel’s one hand is still intertwined with his while the other hand rests on his shoulder. Now he feels Daniel’s breath on his cheek.

 

Seongwu feels his heart hammering thunderously and he wants to fucking smash things, or maybe just his heart so it’d fucking calm down for a second because a rabid horde of fangirls are at their tail now. It’s not the right time to dwell on how his mind is screaming at him to snap and just go kiss the boy—

 

_Fuck._

 

That song from The Little Mermaid starts to play inside his head and _God,_ Seongwu just wants to scream.

 

And so he tries to but feels a hand over his mouth.

 

“They’re gonna hear you, hyung,” Daniel whispers at him urgently. “Are you mad?”

 

Seongwu’s brain starts to fry even further with Daniel’s hand over his mouth even though Daniel’s eyes pretty much spell out, _What the fuck?_

 

“Ahhhh. I’m sorry, hyung.” Daniel takes out his hand. “I really freaked out because you looked like you were gonna scream your head off.”

 

Daniel looks so apologetic and now Seongwu feels bad, but words won’t come out he just shakes his head vigorously. It’s his mouth that got them to this mess, partly, but now said mouth is failing him. Seongwu just wants to be back in his desk, working on his deadlines, and not stuck in a tiny space with his crush who effortlessly attracts a horde of fangirls like moths to a flame.

 

Seongwu’s mind backpedals a bit. _Since when did Daniel count as a crush?_

 

He feels before he sees Daniel laughing, and he doesn’t know how to react to it because Daniel is laughing _at_ him. He’s holding back from laughing out loud like he normally would, but regardless, Seongwu is confused. Daniel laughs at too many things, really.

 

“What’s so funny?” Seongwu mouths.

 

“Nothing. Your face is just funny, hyung.” Daniel’s eyes are doing that crinkling thing again.

 

“This whole situation is funny.” Daniel’s giggles are infectious.

 

Seongwu feels another wave of emotions washing over him as he, too, laughs at the predicament they’re in.

 

“I think I’m gonna have to another round of _tteokboki_. I’m hungry again from all the running.”

 

“Don’t you dare, Kang Daniel. Who knows what will be left of you when your fans get a hold of you.”

 

And they’re laughing again, laughing at each other, laughing despite being cramped up in a tiny blindspot in the middle of Dongdaemun.

 

“For the record, I think you’re handsome,” Seongwu admits with conviction.

 

Daniel stops laughing and looks at him.

 

Seongwu shrugs. He has no idea why he said it, but he felt like he just had to.

 

Everything feels warmer, but Seongwu can’t look away.

 

A couple of seconds pass. Seongwu would usually feel strange sharing too many beats of silence with someone but weirdly, the beating of his heart steadies.

 

“Thank you,” Daniel whispers to him with a smile and he can’t help but mirror Daniel’s smile. It’s expected now every time he’s around Daniel.

 

“I think you’re really handsome too, hyung.”

 

It’s a simple exchange of compliments yet it feels too intimate. But Seongwu feels no repulsion.

 

He lets the moment wash over him and take him whole. Seongwu really has a crush on Daniel.

 

 

 

 

 

When he looked up pictures of Daniel on Naver, he became aware of how scary Kang Dongho looks.

 

Even when they’re not performing and everyone’s smiling, looking at Dongho gives Seongwu a shiver. He’s got the authority and alpha male vibes down to a T.

 

Seeing him in the flesh, though, is just plain _scarier_.

 

One moment he’s stuck with Daniel, who just recently got promoted to a crush in Seongwu’s book, and then the next moment he’s being dragged to Daniel’s agency’s HQ building.

 

There across from him sits a terrifying Kang Dongho. The man looks like he’s going to come for the person that’s responsible for disturbing his sleep.

 

Seongwu observes him as he’s talking on his phone, who’s hopefully not threatening the life out of anyone.

 

Dongho notices Seongwu staring and a shiver goes through him again. Dongho ends the call and coughs, prompting Seongwu to try and look back at him.

 

“Daniel told me you live near Dongdaemun,” Dongho says. “You can tell the instructions to the driver. He’s kinda new but he knows Seoul like the back of his hand so, yeah.”

 

“Oh. So I won’t see Daniel before I go?” Seongwu asks.

 

There’s a hint of surprise in Dongho’s face and even Seongwu too is slightly taken aback by how casual he sounds. “Daniel would come with you actually, but he needs to stay low after the fiasco earlier.”

 

Seongwu tries to mask his disappointment by nodding slowly.

 

“Don’t worry about it. You won’t be banned from meeting him, or vice versa. Our manager is just carefully laying the guidelines on frolicking out and about.”

 

“Is he going to get in trouble then?” Seongwu is curious; honestly, not seeing Daniel is already somehow heartbreaking as it is, but completely keeping Daniel on house arrest is even more heartbreaking.

 

Dongho chuckles. It’s a light chuckle, but he still scares Seongwu, really.

 

“No, he’s not. He needs to be careful, yes, but Daniel deserves a break sometimes. We all do.” Dongho pauses, briefly massaging the crease in his forehead. “In fact, it might be the stress of the upcoming activities getting to him. He won’t even be able to celebrate his birthday at home, so there’s that.”

 

“What?”

 

“We have a schedule on his birthday and even though our manager insisted that he can take a leave on that day. He refused of course, saying it will be unfair for everyone if he’ll be excused just because it’s his birthday.”

 

Seongwu can imagine Daniel saying that. But still.

 

“How about the 9th? Do you have a schedule on that day too?” Seongwu’s not sure where he’s going with this, but he just wants to know for sure. He unlocks his phone and sees that December 9 is a Friday.

 

“Well we have a schedule on the night of the 8th, so technically the 9th will be just us sleeping the exhaustion off.”

 

“This is probably too forward of me. But can I get your number?” Seongwu looks at Dongho. This is the only way Dongho will take him seriously, he thinks. If Seongwu looks crazy serious enough. “I might need your help in pulling this off.”

 

Dongho’s looking at him like he’s indeed a crazy person but he’s still listening.

 

Seongwu continues, “I just want to try and give him the birthday he deserves. I’ll try to think of a place we could go to, to have fun and let loose.” He gulps as he feels Dongho studying his face. “I promise it isn’t anything scandalous!”

 

Seongwu’s not sure what does it, but Dongho gives him a subtle smile, nodding as if he understands what Seongwu means.

 

Seongwu knows he’s straddling dangerous territory, but he feels like it’s the least he could do for a friend.

 

A friend who also happens to be a crush.

 

But that’s a subject Seongwu decides not to dwell on at the time being.

 

 

 

 

 

Kang Daniel’s rendezvous with a Friend in Dongdaemun was the hot topic that morning.  

 

“Please explain yourself, little brother.”

 

Seongwu woke up to his sister shoving a phone to his face, an article with a badly stolen shot of Daniel and him from their wild dinner escapade.

 

“Of all the people you sleep with, you sleep with a freaking superstar,” Jinah says, a little bit too dramatically for Seongwu at seven in the morning.

 

He’s still rubbing the sleep off his eyes as his sister scoots over his bed and shows him numerous online articles.

 

“So you called him, then went onto actually dating him, now you’re caught on camera and fuck, did I get everything right so far, little brother?”

 

“More or less, yes,” he finally replies.

 

“These are things you tell me okay? Siblings tell each other these sort of things.”

 

He lets out a laugh, trying to get a hold of his phone from under his pillow.

 

“I knew you were attractive enough little brother, even with your lack of ass, but wow, you scammed Kang Daniel pretty good.”

 

“Hey!” he exclaims at her, trying to hold back more of his laughter. He likes to think that it’s his charm that draws people in, thank you very much. On top of his face, of course.

 

“I’ve told you every embarrassing date I had and even guys I briefly flirted with,” Jinah says. “I have the right to get mad at you for not telling me anything about this.”

 

He shrugs. He finally gets a hold of his phone, and there are twenty-five unread text messages and eight missed calls on display.

 

He wonders how the rest of his day will go.

  


 

 

 

The chaos continues as he arrives at work. Pretty much everyone clapped and whistled as he walked towards his desk. Gunhee, as expected, is sitting at the chair beside his, dramatically coaxing _the dirty details_ out of him.

 

“So this is why we never see you dating,” Gunhee says. “Your standards are _that_ high, oh my god.”

 

“Why do you all immediately assume we’re dating? Can’t we be just two dudes hanging out?” he asks.

 

“You can trick the rest of South Korea but not me.”

 

Seongwu scoffs.

 

“Well if you’re not dating him, can I have his number then?”

 

Seongwu snaps his attention to Gunhee, who’s immediately smiling with mischief as if he caught Seongwu red-handed.

 

“Like I said, I’m not the rest of South Korea” Gunhee sing-songs, a knowing smile on his lips, eyebrows wiggling at Seongwu. He then winks at Seongwu before walking back to his desk.

  


 

 

 

Seongwu scrolls through article comments during his breaks and hopes to see nothing scandalous brewing.

 

Online tabloids had the decency to blur out Seongwu’s face on the pictures, but netizens showed no mercy. Granted, Seongwu really wasn’t looking that decent for any camera that night, he’s still fazed by the expressions on his face that were caught on the numerous shots uploaded on several online platforms.

 

He chokes on his cup of caramel macchiato when he sees one comment:

 

_Whoa. Daniel’s friend is kinda handsome. I won’t be surprised if they’re dating._

 

He doesn’t miss a beat and takes a screenshot of said comment, opening his LINE chat with Daniel.

 

He sends the screenshot with a caption, _I think Dispatch will be onto us soon, superstar. ;)_

 

Later that afternoon, Daniel sends him a _Hyung!!!_ followed by a herd of panicking peach emojis.  

 

Seongwu replies with a multiple laughing emojis and then proceeds to verifying if Daniel got into any trouble. Daniel assures him that he didn’t, that their manager was slightly mad, yes, but Daniel swore he made it sure to reiterate that it was his choice to stroll along Dongdaemun.

 

Seongwu feels kinda bad. A second later and Daniel sends him a _Hey, please don’t worry, hyung. It’s not your fault!!! >___< _

 

Seongwu doesn’t feel any better so he tries changing the topic instead. He types _Dongho is scarier in real life. I think I was close to peeing in my pants last night. :-(_

 

He gets consecutive laughing stickers in reply, capped with a, _But I think hyung likes you. He told me to watch out though._

 

Seongwu sends a, _Did he now?_ followed by a thinking sticker.  

 

It’s not until that evening that he gets Daniel’s response: _He says you might look harmless. But he knows a heartbreaker when he sees one._

 

 

 

 

 

Dongho’s remark stays with Seongwu for a couple of days. It’s not until one random dinner at home does he bring it out in the open, to his family no less. His dad just got up from the table, about to refill their pitcher with water. Seongwu guesses it’s the perfect time to ask them.

 

“Be honest. Do I look like a heartbreaker?”

 

Jinah coughs and laughs a bit before saying, “Did Daniel say that? Did his friends say that?”

 

“How can you immediately assume it’s related to him?”

 

Jinah snorts delicately. “Well are you dating anyone else aside from him? Because if you are, then that just reaffirms you being a heartbreaker.”

 

“No I’m not! And hey, we aren’t even dating.” Jinah gives him a questioning look. “Officially.” Seongwu sees his dad smile a little.

 

Jinah raises an eyebrow.

 

Seongwu refills his glass with water before explaining. “We haven’t really talked about us. The idea of us, well, dating.”

 

“So what, you’re just casually going out and about, getting caught on camera and texting each other religiously in between times you aren’t seeing each other?” Jinah questions.

 

Seongwu finds himself gulping at every er—accusation because he’s caught red-handed, and doesn’t know how to explain himself.

 

“Isn’t that what friends do?” Seongwu insists.

 

“Do friends also sleep with each other once and not talk about it and just mask it with casual, non-sexual encounters to possibly bury the tension?”

 

“Ong Jinah.” Their dad’s tone is firm, but not too strict. In fact, he looks like he’s on the verge of laughing. Seongwu feels ten times more miserable.

 

“Oh my God. No wonder you’ve been told you’re a heartbreaker,” Jinah remarks. “Dad, what do you think?”

 

Their dad shrugs before speaking, “Your brother’s a grown man. He can break hearts if he wants to.”

 

Seongwu wants to tear his hair out in frustration. Being tag-teamed by his own family is one of the worst kinds of betrayal. Why does having a crush as an adult have to be so complicated?

 

“It doesn’t really have to be complicated, Seongwu.” His dad’s voice is firm once more, but this time it rings with genuineness.

 

Why. Does. He. Have. To. Think. Out. Loud. All. The. Damn. Time.

 

His dad briefly smiles at him, gets up from his seat and pats his head gently. “I haven’t seen you this hung up on a crush. It’s a good look on you, son.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Days swiftly pass by and Seongwu loses track of the hours spent exchanging messages and memes with Daniel.

 

Deadlines don’t really stress Seongwu much anymore. Any random sticker and popular internet meme from Daniel eases any of the impending stress away.

 

Daniel’s the first person he texts when he wakes up and the last person he texts before he goes to sleep.  Sometimes he calls him on evenings, when Daniel is still able to function and speak for himself, and Seongwu is waiting for his revisions to finish rendering.

 

Seongwu likes talking with Daniel. And he hopes Daniel feels the same way too, but he doesn’t dare ask. He’s afraid of entertaining that small voice at the back of his head, that maybe, this is all just an illusion from his end.

 

He’s even texting with Daniel in between work and it’s becoming borderline difficult to keep his smiles and laughter to himself as Daniel ups his game, sending him goofy selcas now via LINE.

 

They started off as Daniel just acting cute.

 

But when was Daniel _not_ cute, really?

 

It went from Daniel showing his bunny teeth to a picture of him posing with a V sign next to a sleeping Dongho. The picture had the caption _The Sleeping Giant_. Seongwu just loses it and thanks that he’s alone in the pantry for his afternoon coffee when he opens that picture.

 

That one time, Gunhee tried to attempt peeking from behind his shoulder but failed miserably since Seongwu has been on full alert ever since his relationship—his friendship with Daniel got exposed.

 

“It’s been ages and we had no clue whatsoever on who’s got you sunny all the time,” Gunhee complains. “We were all dying to know, including Boss. And then we find out that you’re hanging out with _the_ Kang Daniel?”

 

Seongwu smiles at him sheepishly, scratching his neck. Apart from people who personally know him, there’s not much discussion on who is Kang Daniel’s mystery friend from Dongdaemun.

 

“We didn’t even hear it directly from you, Seongwu. We saw it on online news portals, for crying out loud!”

 

“It’s not that big a deal,” Seongwu placates. When his “secret relationship” with Daniel’s brought up during lunchtime, almost every other day, all he gets are hopeless sighs from both his male and female colleagues.

 

“I can’t believe we’re practically strangers to you!” Gunhee fakes a dramatic gasp and proceeds to talk about another topic, or some new blind item on the news.

 

He mentally thanks Gunhee for not prodding further into what exactly is going on between Daniel and him. Some things are better left unasked.

  


 

 

 

“Can we cut that dolly shot out? It doesn’t go well with the scene at all,” Jihoon says, squinting at the timeline on the screen of Woojin’s laptop.

 

“Hey. We had over ten takes for that shot and now you’re saying I cut it?” Woojin looks like he’s about to fight judging from the sour tone in his voice, but his fingers remain on the keyboard.

 

“Well maybe something’s missing from the shot itself. And now it stands out too much. It definitely has to go,” Jihoon reiterates, now looking at Woojin who’s just exasperated by Jihoon’s demands at that point.

 

“Why did we even include that in the shot list in the first place then? Who put that in?” Woojin has his head turned towards Jihoon now. And as much Seongwu finds it entertaining, he tries to focus on his own project.

 

It’s nearing the end of November but it hasn’t started snowing yet.

 

Seongwu hasn’t started transitioning to parkas and coats. He’s still waiting for the first snowfall as a signal for his wardrobe change.

 

It was Woojin’s idea to meet up at this Holland-inspired café in the middle of Garosu-gil.

 

Seongwu’s breath was taken away earlier as he found himself in front of the café’s entrance, nestled behind various kinds of huge-potted plants. Entering the café itself was an even more relaxing experience, with its dimly-lit and cozy interior, decorated with shelves donning more potted plants, and a ceiling tacked with hanging dried flower bouquets. According to Woojin, the relaxing and cozy ambiance might help in easing out the stress from Jihoon’s demands for the final cut of his thesis film.

 

Jihoon had called him earlier, asking for his input on the final cut of his thesis film, just before Woojin would proceed to rendering it. Seongwu agreed to come, after being bribed with caramel macchiato and a slice of the café’s best-selling honey toast.

 

He’s currently trying to finish his pending trailers on top of his previous ongoing assignments from when he was only handling trailers for action and horror movies. It’s a little too disorienting, but he’s learned to prioritize which ones he can finish first with the least amount of time spent overthinking and stressing out over the simplest bits.

 

Besides, Daniel has always been a little too ecstatic whenever he receives a link to a new trailer Seongwu has finished. He even goes the extra mile and links a clip of it on his Instagram, which to Seongwu’s amusement, riles up his co-workers even more.

 

“Hey loverboy-hyung, please tell Jihoon what you honestly think about removing this dolly shot that I, Park Woojin, have meticulously shot, under his very specific instructions.” Woojin’s looking at him with such ferocity that Seongwu can’t help be a little bit scared for his life.

 

Seongwu briefly glances Jihoon and sees an equal amount of ferocity.

 

He gulps before asking “Why was the dolly shot part of your vision originally, Jihoon?”

 

“Well I want a shot closing in on the subject and I figured the dolly shot was what the sequence needed,” Jihoon answers simply.

 

“So why didn’t you go for a zoom-in instead?” Seongwu asks, glancing at Woojin who’s carefully watching Jihoon.

 

Jihoon stares at nothing in particular, looking like he’s contemplating before answering, “I wanted the audience to feel as if they’re also moving towards the subject, but I wanted depth so the zoom-in was immediately out of the option.”

 

“There’s your answer,” Seongwu says with a semblance of finality, hoping the two lovebirds can come up with a final decision.

 

“See! Even Seongwu hyung agrees,” Woojin says, beaming albeit looking a bit smugly at Jihoon who still looks contemplative.

 

“Besides, don’t you remember?” Woojin asks, his question directed at Jihoon. “You said you wanted to create the experience that looking at a subject doesn’t automatically mean you’re just focusing on said subject.” The sudden change of tone in his voice doesn’t go unnoticed to Seongwu. It’s softer, calmer.

 

Woojin continues, “You said and I quote, _That’s how the world feels like, right? When you’re in love? Dizzying and disorienting, but you’re still looking at that one person._ ”

 

“Yeah, I remember now,” Jihoon finally says, briefly smiling at Woojin. And Woojin smiles back at him, his snaggletooth on display.

 

Seongwu suddenly feels like he’s intruding so he goes back to looking at his laptop screen, Woojin’s words echoing in his mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Jihoon and Woojin leave him at the café around ten in the evening.

 

“This loverboy right here wanted to walk by the park or something as we wait for the first snowfall. Cheesy, right?” Jihoon says to Seongwu in a mocking, albeit soft-spoken voice.

 

“I could hear you. Your loverboy is hurt,” Woojin announces, right hand dramatically pounding on his chest.

 

Seongwu is really entertained.

 

As the two loverbirds leave, Seongwu unlocks his phone and sends Daniel a text. _Hey. Are you busy? :)_

 

The instant reply gives Seongwu a bit of a whiplash. _Still not done for today but they said we’ll be done soon! I’m kinda tired. I might need a hug. :-(_

 

He feels a smile on his lips as he types his reply, _Hugs are overrated. How about a cup of coffee? ;)_

 

He takes a deep sigh before sending Daniel another text. _I’m at a shop along one of the café streets in Garosu-gil. The café with lotsssssssss and lotsssssss of plants outside the entrance. Text me when you’re outside!!! :))_

 

 

 

 

 

“Excuse me, sir, I’d like to apologize but we’re closing in a bit. Were you waiting for someone?” The staff asks him.

 

Was he waiting for s _omeone?_

 

“It’s okay I’m done anyways and uh, I think I’ll just tell them to meet me somewhere else outside,” Seongwu says to the staff, briefly smiling at her.

 

He packs up his things and looks at his phone.

 

No new messages. No calls.

 

He sighs deeply before heading outside. He’d honestly understand if Daniel couldn’t come. It’s the first time it’ll happen, anyways. And besides, Daniel’s an idol, for crying out loud. Of course, Seongwu is not a priority in his jam-packed schedule.

 

He’s consumed by his thoughts as he’s trying to find the way to the nearest bus terminal. He feels _something_ land on his cheek. He touches it and feels other _somethings_ falling from the sky.

 

The first snowfall.

 

He holds his right palm out and tries to collect some.

 

Daniel would be sappy about this, he thinks. But then again, he stood Seongwu up, so now’s not the right time to be thinking about Daniel.

 

He can sulk later at home and maybe ignore any of Daniel’s texts for the next twenty-four hours or so.

 

For now, he can—he will bask at the beauty of the first snowfall in possibly one of the most romantic places in the city;he can marvel at the tree-lined street before him, a perfect picturesque backdrop as snow falls from the vast night sky.

 

That’s when he sees a cute café, with an exterior adorned with large-potted plants. He also sees the tall mop of blonde hair pacing back and forth just beside the entrance.

 

“Daniel,” he whispers.

 

Daniel doesn’t hear him.

 

“Daniel!” he says louder, slowly walking towards where Daniel is.

 

His mind is swimming in dizzying thoughts and swaying with the snow falling from the sky but he can only look at Daniel.

 

Daniel goes wide-eyed as Seongwu approaches, grinning toothily at Seongwu but also looking very confused. A tall, confused puppy in a snuggly beige parka.

 

Seongwu’s heart feels warm. He feels warm all over. “Why are you here?”

 

Daniel throws him an even more puzzled look. “What?”

 

“We’re supposed to meet somewhere else!” Seongwu lays a hand on his forehead. He feels unsteady, and his spine tingles, his fingers shake. He doesn’t know if it’s from the worry, disappointment, relief or sheer happiness. Maybe it’s a combination of all of those. His warming heart feels like it’s bursting at the seams.

 

“You said something about ‘lotssssssss and lotsssssss of potted plants’, and honestly, there’s more than one café that fits the bill,” Daniel explains, half whining, half pouting. And Seongwu is so, so endeared but also very amused at their situation.

 

“So why didn’t you call? Or text to ask?” Seongwu asks him, tone soft and mild. Woojin’s words from earlier, ringing loud and clear in his head. “But it’s my fault for not saying the name of the café. I was trying to be romantic.”

 

_That’s how the world feels like, right?_

 

“ _I_ am the one trying to be romantic, hyung! I wanted to surprise you!!! I’ve walked past five or so café’s now and they’re all closed! Five café’s! Five!”

 

_When you’re in love?_

 

Seongwu erupts into laughter at Daniel’s hysterics, which is heavy with his Busan accent. He doesn’t notice Daniel taking off his beige parka until Seongwu feels him put said clothing on him.

 

_Dizzying and disorienting, but you’re still looking at that one person._

 

“I can’t believe you didn’t wear a thicker jacket,” Daniel says as he rubs his palms together. “Don’t you watch the news, hyung?”

 

This is the part of the movie where Seongwu would feel like gagging, because it’s too cheesy, too cliché for his cynical and rock-hard heart.

 

On instinct, he feels the gears in his mind trying to come up with an excuse for not watching the news, or just a funny joke to deliver at least.

 

But instead, he inches closer to Daniel and leaves a peck on his cheek.

 

Not too heavy, not too forceful.

 

A light peck.

 

As light as how Seongwu’s feeling at that moment.

  


 

 

 

December rolls around quickly.

 

As expected, Seongwu’s workload is becoming heavier, with the influx of producers asking for material needed for the following year.

 

He’s not stressed about them, about finishing things on time. Instead, he’s stressed about what happened on the first day of snowfall at Garosu-gil.

 

He can feel the ghost of Daniel’s cheek on his lips every time he touches them after brushing his teeth in the morning. He can picture the gradual flush in Daniel’s cheeks when he drew back. The light peck burning them both in the middle of a cold winter night.

 

Seongwu asks himself if he regrets crossing over that dangerous line. That dangerous line that none of them seemed like they wanted to pay attention to, but has always been a nagging,  screaming reminder at the back of Seongwu’s mind.

 

But he doesn’t regret it.

 

He doesn’t regret it one bit.

 

Talking about it is a completely different matter, however. None of them bring it up on any of their texts, or the phone calls they exchanged. It’s as if that night never happened.

 

Seongwu’s slightly disappointed they haven’t talked about it yet, but respects if Daniel doesn’t want to.

 

He can wait for the right time. He can wait for Daniel.

 

Instead, he focuses on getting things done since he already filed his leave on the day before Daniel’s birthday. Even his colleagues at work note how he’s even willing to sacrifice half of his lunch break sometimes to cut clips from the footages for his deadlines.

 

“You’re already thinner than me! Please eat properly or else you’ll be like a walking tree!” Daniel tells him one day.

 

Seongwu can feel his pout on the other end of the line.

 

He’s working overtime at the office since he was too immersed to even pack his things and continue working at home.

 

“Wow, look who’s talking,” Seongwu says. “What did I say about jellies not counting as actual food? You need carbs in your system, Daniel-ah. You’re able to burn them anyways so please, please eat properly, okay?”

 

“Only if you walk the talk too. Send me pics of your dinner tonight!” He swears he can hear the pout in Daniel’s voice.

 

Seongwu finds himself laughing. Upon looking up from his desk, he sees Junmyeon walking towards his cubicle.

 

“Hey, hey, I gotta go,” Seongwu whispers urgently. “More carbs, less jellies! See you soon!”

 

Seongwu wants to say _I miss you_ but stops himself, remembering how it’s foolish to say that given how they haven’t even talked about what needs to be talked about.

 

“Work feels lighter with a boyfriend to share your worries with right?” Junmyeon asks when he arrives at Seongwu’s desk.

 

“Is this the part where you’ll ask me if I’m okay with more workload?” Seongwu jokes, purposely ignoring the _boyfriend_ remark.

 

Junmyeon laughs a bit before schooling his face into a neutral expression, fingers tapping on Seongwu’s cubicle.

 

“I bumped into Sungwoon last weekend. He was asking me how you’re doing.”

 

Seongwu’s fingers momentarily freeze at the mention of the name.

 

“He’ll be working on a movie soon. Jonghyun wrote the script. They’re already meeting with some producers.”

 

Seongwu looks up, curious to where this conversation is heading.

 

“He wants to know—they want to know, if you’d be willing to edit and maybe co-direct.”

 

Seongwu responds quickly, forgetting he’s speaking to his Boss, “I’m doing fine. Tell them that.”

 

“This is a great opportunity to get back at the game though.” Junmyeon looks serious, not in any way fazed by Seongwu’s disinterest.

 

“I don’t want to be a part of the game anymore, Boss.” He tries to sound firm, careful not to show the cracks in his armor, still left unmended.

 

“I can’t pretend to know what you’re thinking or feeling,” Junmyeon says, tone careful. “But please know that you can always go back.”

 

Seongwu knows he should feel touched since Junmyeon’s speaking to him not as his Boss, but as a concerned senior, a concerned friend.

 

He remembers the tight hug the elder gave him, after his thesis film presentation.

 

Twenty-two year old Seongwu who’s half crushed over the collective _“We’ve seen it all before”_ from the panel. Seongwu remembers half crumbling, remembers that one empty seat reserved for _her_.

 

 _“Today may not be your day, but chin up! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and so is Ong Seongwu, filmmaker extraordinaire.”_ Junmyeon was the perfect image of an inspiring senior, always ready to reach out to his juniors. And he still is.

 

But it’s Seongwu’s life. And he already made his choice.

 

Junmyeon doesn’t hold back a sigh. “Hey, at least think it over on your vacation this weekend. I’m guessing you’ll be heading off somewhere far? Somewhere relaxing, perhaps?”

 

“Somewhere far?” Seongwu asks.

 

“Everyone’s been going and on and on about how you circled the December 9 in your desk calendar,” Junmyeon answers. “They’re guessing you’ll be travelling far with your boyfriend.”

 

_Two hundred miles away from Seoul._

 

“Go home and eat soon, okay? Wouldn’t want your boyfriend to get mad at you for backing out on your promise to him to stay healthy as well.”

 

“Thanks, Boss.” Seongwu doesn’t correct Junmyeon and instead unlocks his phone to call the person he needs to talk to. He hits dial and finds himself standing from his seat, waiting for the person on the other line to pick up.

 

 _“Ong Seongwu?”_ The voice is deep and slightly terrifying, just as he recalls it.

 

“Hello.” Seongwu’s free hand fidgets with the loose string on his cardigan. “Remember when I asked for your help?”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire fic is basically The Morning(s) After so I hope this update counts as a valid entry for ongnielweek? ★~(◡﹏◕✿)
> 
> This update is especially dedicated to [Charm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sengen35/pseuds/sengen35). And as always, I owe everything to my [beta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curryramyeon/pseuds/tinygumdrops).
> 
> If you're interested, here's [an accompanying mix](https://open.spotify.com/user/22rmkh5ym53ej452vz6zssghi/playlist/4jRvP5VWOjcRhHf1UN5o0R) I made for this chapter. You get gold stars if you'll be able to correctly guess which scene goes with each song. ;u; Here's the [accompanying mix for the previous chapter](https://open.spotify.com/user/22rmkh5ym53ej452vz6zssghi/playlist/0IcL5VIJNN2begaCV0Y7VK) because I finished it a bit later than posting of said chapter.
> 
> See you at the next update or somewhere in the comments section of the other fics here in our humble tag (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ or you can come talk to me [@_seonguwu](https://twitter.com/_seonguwu). (●´ω｀●)

**Author's Note:**

> My internal deadline for this was originally on the first week of May but alas, I still have [redacted] parts waiting to be written properly. Hopefully, the other parts will be published within the following weeks. And also, my apologies to the birthday girl because I know you're looking forward to _Something Else_ but I hope this will do. For now. ;u;
> 
> In the meantime, come talk to me [@_seonguwu](https://twitter.com/_seonguwu). Let's talk about ongniel. Let's talk about movies. ;w;


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